Christian network site offers safe society

Photo courtesy of Randall BrownRandall Brown, center, and Michael Smith, right, visit with Christian radio DJ Jon Walden during a visit to WDJC

It filters language, warns members of bad behavior

It was about a year ago when Randall Brown of Hartselle started looking for a safe place for kids to hang out.

Online, that is.

He found out the hard way MySpace isn't just for finding friends, networking or listening to cool bands. Unfortunately, companies have hacked into MySpace and spam-slammed it with porn ads and unwanted advertisements.

He also looked at Facebook, and although that site has had better luck filtering out porn and advertisements, there are still teenagers being teenagers, posting comments, pictures, graphics and other applications that might be offensive.

So, Brown, 28, and friend Michael Smith, 29, of Hatton decided to come up with something different - christianspaceonline.com. The site is for ages 13 and above. What makes it different? Christianspaceonline automatically filters out bad language and warns offensive members of improper comments, pictures or graphics.

The two men not only wanted to find a safe space online for everyone from teenagers to adults, but also eventually for their kids. Brown has three kids, 10, 4 and 2, and Michael's are 6, 4 and a newborn.

"Yeah, that's were the thought process came from," Brown said. "I was getting bombarded with solicitations from different things, pornography, dating sites, that kind of thing.

"You want it to be a safe place, but companies out there hire people to look for Web sites to solicit. We've had it on ours. Here's the good thing: If you reported things on MySpace, you never heard anything on it. If you report it on ours, it comes to us, and we can delete it and block the IP address."

In November 2007, the Web site went public. After a slow start, christianspaceonline had 996 members - four off the goal of 1,000. At one point, after getting some exposure at concerts and other events, the site was getting 100 new members a day, and that's quite a challenge, especially since Brown works during the day with Tuscaloosa Testing Lab and Smith with White Oak Transportation. They also lead a weekly ministry that meets every Monday night in Cullman.

Still, the two men think it's worth all the hard work.

"You can go on and look at our blogs," Brown said. "We had one girl who said, 'I just accepted Christ and things go on in life that make me question my decision. Because I'm a believer of Christ, why do bad things happen?' "

Brown said it as an opportunity to minister.

"I sent her an e-mail that said, 'Just because bad things happen doesn't mean God isn't on your side,' " Brown explained. "We have pastors who reach out to us and are 100 percent behind it. If there's a situation where they need to be involved, they will help.

"Also, (noted pastor) Scott Dawson is on board with us on the Web site, and if somebody needs some spiritual help, we don't hesitate to put them in touch with somebody."

Of course, there are always going to be those who push the boundaries of even a Christian site.

"Yeah, we have people who test our language filters," Brown said. "If you put a curse word on the comments, unless they manipulate the word, we can block it. The good thing about our site is that when it's reported, we're right on the spot and can go in and delete the comment. We can do the same thing with pictures."

Brown said if a guy puts a picture of himself at the beach with no shirt, it's pulled. If a girls puts one on in a bathing suit, it's pulled. He recalls a story of a mother who was bothered when her 13-year-old son was contacted by a 19-year-old from Tennessee. The mother couldn't cite anything offensive, but was uncomfortable, so Brown contacted the 19-year-old and suggested he talk to people more his age.

"We're never going to be 100 percent perfect, but it's better than the alternatives," Brown said. "There's no guaranteed safety at church or school. We try to keep it as clean as possible."

Both men say they're not in the venture to make money, but investors and T-shirt sales help keep the site going. Believe it or not, there's a lot of older adults who enjoy surfing the site.

"You'd be amazed," Brown said. "We have a lot of 30- to 50-year-olds and a lot in their 70s. If my grandmother wanted to do it, I'd help her."